Oh come on BBC...

it's called reporting!

The amazing Stonewall awards held last night were just brilliant to follow on twitter.  Not sure who they had in charge of the tweets during the ceremony but it was a superb piece of work that fed the names of nominations for each award followed by an anxious pause then the announcement of the winner and key points of their acceptance speech.  Genius Stonewall, well done you guys.

Then this morning I awake to the daily news only to find the BBC have managed to report the article in only one light, negative.  No shocker there given their usual lack of support for all things diverse.  Not a mention of the Stonewall awards recipients and all the great work they have done in order to be nominated, Oh no just a focus on Cardinal Keith O'Brien being awarded Bigot of the year.

Click the pic to read their full story and join me in the land of amazement when you too find they have managed to 'report' the whole article without mention of the very words spouted from the mouth of the Cardinal during the year that gained him the title.  How do they call this reporting.  Surely even the most dejected grade D summer 2012 GCSE English candidate (I do feel this will become a unique category of GCSE grading given the fiasco) is aware that any journalistic written piece should hold a balance of the views alongside all the facts available.  Yet the BBC fail to celebrate any aspect of these national diversity awards and manage to avoid mentioning that the fine Cardinal has;

"...stated that same-sex relationships are "harmful to the physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing" and compared equal marriage to slavery and child abuse.  The cardinal was a staunch critic of government plans to introduce equal marriage rights for same-sex couples, describing the measure as "grotesque", earlier this year".

as quoted by Stonewall on their website and the PinkPaper online this morning.  There is also a superb piece written on the awards celebrating the work of the winners alongside news of the Cardinal's campaign against same sex marriage on the independent online.

So what have the BBC learned from the hideous Jimmy Saville findings?  That there is a need for cultural change in their institution?  That now would be the best time to start that ball of change rolling? That every aspect of their work is in need of a huge leap into the 21st century?
As has always been my mantra, actions speak so much louder than words.  The fact that the BBC has failed to report this event in a positive light at all bears direct relation to the views they portray of our diverse community and the relentless work of so many groups that support equality.

A summary of the BBC report reads thus; A row has broken out after the Cardinal was given the bigot of the year award, the Cardinal was singled out by Stonewall, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson was booed off stage because she complained about the use of the Bigot award and then she called for tolerance, Christian concern were interviewed as they felt Stonewall wanted to shut down legitimate debate on equal marriage, acknowledged the Cardinal as being courageous and accused Stonewall of being contemptuous having a brazen attitude whilst a Catholic church spokesman is reported as saying Stonewall want to attack, demean, intimidate and vilify those who do not share their views.

Well I am no English teacher but my critique of their work here would include the lack of balance to the evidence and the complete failure to recognise any celebratory element of the event.  I would be asking questions of the performance of the reporters on the night if they failed to interview any of the other award winners or members of Stonewall who seem to have been very happy to give comment to every other paper reporting on this event.  In the opinion of this article the BBC suggests the most important aspects of the evening were that the Catholic church was wronged and I as a gay woman in society should be content with the call from Ruth Davidson for greater tolerance.  Well I do not wish to be tolerated nor do I feel it is acceptable for the public to not be made aware that this bigot award was achieved by the cardinal the BBC reports as courageous for stating that equal marriage rights for same sex couples are grotesque.  I want to be treated as equal in society, afforded the same rights and more than anything else I also want the messages going out to wider society to be a genuine reflection of events and not the tilted view of the BBC.
Thank goodness for equal access to other papers!!